South Africa's new mines minister Ngoako Ramatlhodi said on Wednesday that the deadlock in the country's crippling 18-week platinum strike would soon be broken as movement has been made on both sides. Full story

South African stocks ended lower for the second straight session on Wednesday, with gold mining shares among the biggest decliners as the price of bullion slid to its lowest in more than three months. Full story

Thailand's junta has appointed two retired generals with palace connections as advisers, putting powerful establishment figures hostile towards former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra firmly in the ascendant in the country's long-running power struggle. Full story

Egyptians cast their votes in a presidential election on Wednesday that is certain to install former army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi as president, but his call for an overwhelming mandate did not appear to have been heeded by voters. Full story

An uneasy calm returned to the streets of Donetsk on Wednesday after the biggest battle of the pro-Russian separatist uprising in eastern Ukraine, a conflict transformed by the landslide election of a pro-European leader who vowed to crush the revolt. Full story

German industry's representative in Angola, Ricardo Gerigk, has a tough job drumming up business in Luanda, the costliest city in the world for expats, where contracts tend to go to firms from China, Portugal and other countries with a bigger presence.. . . Full story